Bodyguard to a star
by Genuka
Summary: Q drops in on Picard, then Kirk & ship show up. What will happen? Especially when during a meeting to figure out what's happening everyone in the conference room gets transported to another place, & Q starts having problems w/his powers. What next? OnHold
1. Chapter 1 We begin & crazy becomes norm

**Please note that I am kinda stumped right now. Writers block. So if you want more to this story you need to send me reviews and ask questions. I will add more as soon as I write more. Thanks. -Genuka-**

**Standard Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the star trek characters no matter how much I wish it were otherwise.

'Time is such a relative thing.' Q thinks. 'It can be shifted and shaped to my will. I am not bound to it like other beings. Yet some times… (Humph/chuckle) I must admit, sometimes I wish I were.' Whoosh.

On board the starship Enterprise, Captain Jean-Luc Picard was pondering a rather serious problem. What to do with young Wesley Crusher. Even though everything had worked out, at least a token punishment must be given to Mr. Crusher. The door chimed. "Come." Picard called.

Responding to the command several people trooped in, waiting patiently for Captain Picard to finish his thought. When he looked Picard saw Ensign Wesley Crusher, Lt. Commander Data, Commander Riker, Counselor Deanna Troi, and Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge standing there solemnly.

"Ahh. Here is the miscreant. Now young man what have you got to say for yourself, hmm?" Captain Picard asked Wesley sternly.

"Captain, all I can say is that I really am sorry. It won't happen again." Wesley Crusher answered looking miserable.

"Never-the-less you still must be punished. Let's say a kind of special training program with those present and me at, Oh say 1300 (13 hundred) hours today will be punishment enough. What do you think gentlemen?" Captain Picard ended with a smile.

Grinning just like his fellow officers (except of course Data) Geordi responded with a slight grin of his own. "Oh, I think I can spare a few hours away from the engine room. What do you think Commander Riker, should we show them how it's done?"

Grinning foolishly, William T. Riker said in an offhand air. "I think I've got some time right around then. Yes, I believe I can join you."

"Very well, 1300 hours it is." Then with mock severity. "And don't be late. Good day gentlemen." Picard dismissed them.

Suddenly, before anyone could move a voice spoke up out of thin air. "Oh how droll. Captain, you really must find better ways of describing me." With a flash Q was suddenly there in the ready room on top of Captain Picard's desk, lying on his side reading a previous report on himself by Captain Picard.

"Q," Picard asked patiently. "What do you want this time?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just a bit of companionship. You see Picard despite what you believe, we of the Q can and do get board, and I have chosen to see if spending time with you will relieve some of my boredom. I want to, for a time; be an observer on your ship, or a crew member, take your pick. Or there is a third option; I can go around disrupting life on your ship. I'll let you choose. If I am an observer or a crew member I actually have to play by your puny rules. However, I will be staying with your ship for a time no matter what you say. It's up to you how I spend my time." Q said with equal portions of joviality and seriousness.

"You're serious?" At a nod from Q. "Very well (resigned sigh). You will act according to our human social code and human moral code is that understood, Ensign Q?" Picard asked wearily.

"Ensign!?" Q yelped, furious. Leaping off the desk.

"Yes! Ensign. Because you may become board and leave when we are in a critical situation. I cannot have your exit or entrance disrupt the entire ship or command structure on board. Is that understood?" Captain Picard asked in total seriousness.

"Oh all right, Picard." Q answered in a suffering tone of voice and making a face of long suffering. Suddenly a red alert sounded, with everyone staring at Q. "I didn't do it! However to prove to you that I'm being truthful I'll fix it." Mortified by the words conveyed by the silence.

"Do it!" Picard commanded.

"Done! You may now stand down from Red Alert, Mon Capitan." Q said gaily.

"We'll see." Picard said warningly.

"But of course, Mon Capitain" Q responded promptly as Captain Picard walked on to the bridge with his officers.

"Status Report!" Picard barked while everyone took their stations.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I can't explain it. A ship suddenly appeared on a collision course and then it was behind us as if we went through it, like a ghost. Sir! The ship! It's coming about and hailing us!" The young Ensign reported while moving out of the command chair so that Captain Picard could sit down.

"Very well. Put them on screen." Completely ignoring the fact that Q had followed them onto the bridge. "I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the federation starship Enterprise. What is the meaning of this and who are you?" Picard demanded.

"Captain, how can this be? Last time I checked we were the only Enterprise in the fleet. By the way I am Captain James T. Kirk of the federation starship Enterprise. Currently on a diplomatic mission." Captain Kirk answered.

"Now that's odd. You know you really shouldn't be in this time frame, much less this area of space." Q commented with a frown. "Oh well, maybe I'll just fix the timeline by blasting you into oblivion."

"Q! In our agreement, you admitted that for the time being you would be under my command. Now if I want to you to correct the timeline in that manner, I will order you to do so, otherwise you are to obey the Starfleet command structure." Picard intervened.

"Oh, very well, Jean-Luc. You do of course know that Captain Kirk has previously encountered a Q; Don't you?" At his blank look he continued. "You know, Trelane still hasn't changed." Q said conversationally.

"Thank you, Q. Now as a temporary acting Ensign I am ordering you to check both ships for damage; repair and report any you find." Picard ordered.

"Consider it done." Q said snapping a salute and disappearing in a blinding flash of light.

"Now, Captain would you please join me for refreshments. Anyone else you wish to bring aboard is of course welcome as well. Mr. Data, do we carry anything designed or thought up by the original Enterprise crew members?"

"No, Captain. However may I remind you about the disruption to the timeline…" Data began.

"I am well aware of the possible problems as is Captain Kirk. However our crew has more experience with Q and I believe we can trust Captain Kirk and any others in his crew to keep silent as to any designs and technologies they see. Don't you think?" Picard said with some amusement.

"I must log a formal protest as is my duty. However I agree, Captain." Data informed him.

"You seem to have thought this through, Captain. I accept we'll be over in fifteen minutes. Kirk out." Kirk responded closing the channel.

"Smart move. Though I believe that I would like to see this meeting, with your permission of course, Jean-Luc." Q commented appearing from nowhere.

"Can we stop you?" Commented Commander Riker wryly.

"Yes, of course. You can always order me not to attend. However that just means I'll have to use other means to see the meeting, most likely something you can't detect or control." Q said offhandedly.

"(Sigh) Very well you may attend. On the condition you actually act like an obedient quiet, Ensign. Is that perfectly clear?" Asked Picard sternly.

"Perfectly." Q responded happily.

Fifteen minutes later Captain Picard, Q, Data, Commander Riker, Counselor Deanna Troi, Geordi, Wesley, Captain Kirk, two other officers(which Picard recognized as Commander Spock and Dr. Leonard McCoy), and two civilians(recognized as Ambassador Sarek and his wife Lady Amanda) arrived in conference room B(owing to the fact that someone's joke had gotten a little out of hand in conference room A).

"Now, we have a mutual problem Captain. Q tells me you have previously encountered one of his species by the name of Trelane." Captain Picard began.

"Trelane!" Dr. McCoy interrupted, startled. "You mean…? Oh man." He moaned. "Jim!"

"That is quite enough! Bones, we'll just have to deal with whatever happens, like we always do." Captain Kirk forestalled an argument with his commanding tone and sharp look.

"Oh very good, Captain. Though his fears are quite baseless. You see I'm a bit more mature than Trelane, and…" Q spoke up.

"Q! That is enough! For the time being Q is a temporary acting Ensign. Which, might I remind you, Q, means that everyone in this room out ranks you. Now, I'm ordering you to be silent." Picard interrupted.

"Yes, Mon Capitain." Q answered smartly with a cheeky salute and a tired sigh from Picard.

"I apologize. We have encountered him off and on for the past several years. Now, how to get you home. Mr. Data I believe you have an idea on that score." Picard explained, looking expectantly at Data.

"Yes, Captain, I do. Using the same method which Captain Kirk used to return after accidentally traveling back to the twentieth century and encountered Gary Seven. The enterprise under Captain Kirk can return to the correct time period. All I need to complete the calculations is a reference to which part of the timeline they left." Data delivered his presentation with precision.

"NO!" Q interrupted. "That won't work! It might have five minutes ago but not now. Someone is altering reality, and I can't seem to stop it. What!? Why is it focusing on…? Oh! Oh no. Captain you might want to close your eyes. I'll ease the transition as much as I can." Q warned.

"Q! What the devil…" Picard was interrupted by an intense bombardment of light and sound, momentarily blinding his senses. When they cleared enough for him to see he found himself in a place bombarded with color. The only things which didn't change color were those who had been in the conference room and what each of them had with them.(Kind of like a giant multi-colored lava lamp.)

Spock immediately began scanning for anything besides the group with his ever-present tricorder, while Mr. Data reconfigured the tricorder he had used to monitor Q and also began scanning the area. Q just stood there looking strained; Picard immediately stalked over and stood in front of Q.

Furiously Picard demanded "Q! What the devil is going on?!"

In a strained voice Q answered with a faraway look. "Shut up, Picard. I'm trying to keep us alive." After a moment of silence he continued. "Alright, I've filtered out all of the illusions so everything you sense is real. That should keep us alive a little longer. I can't keep this up indefinitely and I can't get us out of this. (Sigh) There is only one person that I know of who can get us out of this. However when she gets here she might be injured. I hope you remembered to grab your med-kit on our way out, McCoy."

"Q! What are you talking about?" Captain Picard demanded.

"It's rather simple really. I am going to transport a young lady here so that she can get us out of this mess and I can get the one who did this. Now, kindly let me concentrate so that I won't kill her." Q responded in a weary strained tone.

"Captain! I suggest we do as Q asks. I have noted increased power output from Q concentrated around a spot exactly one meter in front of him. The power output may injure anyone within a meter and a half upon reaching its peak accumulation." Data informed Picard.

"Very well everyone back to two meters from the indicated point. Q may remain where he is." Picard ordered and was promptly obeyed.

"Spock?" Kirk asked for conformation.

"I agree with the assessment Captain. Jim, he is not alive." Spock responded with the quirk of an eye brow, motioning slightly with his head toward Data.

"What do you mean, 'not alive'?" Dr. McCoy interjected.

"Commander Spock is quite correct. I am not alive in an organic sense of the word. I am an android." Data answered for Spock.

"Gentlemen, we can discuss this later. Let's meet our visitor first. Shall we?" Kirk intervened, gesturing to the now visible formation of a young lady no more than 20 standard years old. They all watched as she began to solidify, slowly going from transparent to oblique to finally totally solid. As soon as the transport was complete both she and Q collapsed.

"Data, check on Q. Geordi, stay back and watch for any changes in energy readings. Wesley, you will assist Dr. McCoy. I think the face of someone about her own age might calm her if she wakes up, and I hope you remember helping your mother." Picard ordered.

"Yes, Captain!" Wesley answered both the order and the question. While Data answered by complying and Geordi by nodding. At Picard's comment Spock's eyebrow went up a notch, but he made no comment as he and Captain Kirk moved to assist Dr. McCoy.

"Will she be alright, Bones?" Kirk asked after Dr. McCoy gave her a cursory examination.

"She's in shock, but I think I can keep her alive for now. Jim, if we can't find a way to get her to respond no matter what I do she'll die." McCoy said gravely. Just then, Q groaned and began to regain proper consciousness.

"Ooohh(moan). You know, you're all lucky that I didn't lose consciousness entirely, as it is we only lost some area that's safe to move in, not the whole shield. (Sigh) How is she?" Q asked.

"Stable, for now, but if we can't get her to respond it's likely that she will die." Dr. McCoy answered sadly.

"Doctor, if I may?" Spock requested, politely motioning Dr. McCoy to move.

"Spock, I'm not sure that she will survive if you try to mindmeld with her. And if she dies, I don't know if I can even keep you alive." McCoy argued as he got up and moved out of the way, ushering Wesley back as he went.

With a fully raised eyebrow Spock answered. "Doctor, I do not believe that there is another option available at this time."

"Alright, Spock. Try it, but be careful." Kirk sighed as Q exhaustedly walked over with Data, Geordi, Commander Riker, Deanna Troi, Picard, Ambassador Sarek, and Lady Amanda in tow.

"Spock, wait. Let me try first." Lady Amanda asked gently.

Bowing his head, Spock stepped aside. Allowing his mother to move forward and kneel beside the unconscious girl. She placed her hand on the young girl's chest and spoke. "Wake up, dear. You have to wake up. You don't want to be late on your first day, do you? It's time to get up." At Spock and Sarek's raised eyebrows, she explained, softly. "Many human mothers gently wake up their children at one time or another. This will give her a feeling of peace and safety while waking her."

"(Groan), Mommy? I had the weirdest dream. You know how I love Star Trek? Well I dreamed that Q called me and everything started to fade; but when things started getting solid again for the briefest moment I thought I saw…" She stopped in shock when she opened her eyes. "It's not a dream. No one is going to believe this. No Way!"

"Well, I'm glad you got here alright. Now I need you to support something while I rest. Can you feel the bubble I'm supporting? (At her nod he continued.) Well you know how to very gently pick-up soap bubble? (Again at her nod he went on.) Good! Now with your mind; and your mind only I want you to transfer control of this bubble from me to you. I'll take it back later." Q commanded.

"Okay." She said brightly. "There, done. By the way my name is April. I know who all of you are. Dr. McCoy, can I have a stimulant and a painkiller? I'm falling asleep and I have a headache." April explained.

"I'd like to take some readings first, alright?" McCoy said carefully, taken aback.

"Sure! Uh, Q, how did you get into this mess? Normally you're pretty good at only getting into problems you can just choose to no longer be a part of, even if we can't." April inquired curiously. Picard, Ensign Crusher, Data, Geordi, Will Riker, and Counselor Troi looked sharply at April. Q just grinned and wouldn't say anything, at least not out loud.

Not bad, not bad at all. You know, I think you might actually be able to help us. Now, for your next pop quiz I want you to turn Data into a Vulcan. Q told her telepathically.

"No! I won't turn Data into a Vulcan. He's perfectly fine the way he is, and from now on. I would appreciate it if you spoke to me verbally at all times unless absolutely necessary. Is that perfectly clear, Q?" April said sternly.

"Spoil Sport. You're lucky I…I mean we need you to get out of here." Q answered peevishly.

"Bones?" Kirk asked quietly while moving to read the tricorder over his shoulder.

"I don't know what to tell you, Jim. One moment she reads as human then the next, the readings go haywire. I'm not even sure she is human." Dr. McCoy muttered quietly. Too quietly to be heard by anyone but Spock and McCoy.

"Alright, thanks for trying." Kirk thanked him quietly and then continued at a normal tone and volume. "Do you think it's safe to give her a mild stimulant and painkiller?"At Spock's raised eyebrow, from the original quite tones, Jim shrugged.

"Actually, I was born human. I don't know what I am now. I don't think that we will have any problems with the medicines, but I'm not sure. I'm not a doctor." April commented, at the surprised looks she explained, sheepishly. "I have better hearing than most. I always have. I can hear things that others can't its beyond their normal audible range."

"Anything else we should know about?" Asked Counselor Troi.

"Actually, yes. Some anesthetics and painkillers don't work on me or they don't work on me the right way and I have a few medicinal allergies." April answered in total seriousness, "I'm allergic to ceaclore, penicillin, and codeine."

At this flood of information everyone except Spock, Sarek, and Data were visibly taken aback. Q just grinned.

"Um…Q. When are you going to take the shielding back? It's shifting on me and I don't know how to fix it." April asked curiously.

"What!?" Q said, startled. "I'll take it back now…April I need you to release it."

"Why? You didn't when I took it." April asked curiously.

"Because I need you to let go of it before it finishes shifting. I'll show you why later. Just let it go!" Q demanded.

"Okay." She answered and released the shielding, letting it collapse. Q immediately put up a new, but weaker shield.

"Why did you put up a weaker shield, Q? And Doctor, can I please have the painkiller? And the stimulant?" She asked sleepily.

"Quiet. I need to think." Q muttered. "Hmm…" Noticing a glowing pebble by his foot he asked no one in particular. "What's this doing here? And why didn't I notice it?"

A moment after Q commented on the pebble, it began to glow brighter and brighter. Within another minute everyone except Data, Spock, Sarek, and Q needed to look away, but couldn't. Amanda remained near April and unconsciously moved to shield her. As a consequence only April was able to see that the pebble was drawing something in light. Something that she had a very bad feeling would hurt or at least try to hurt them all.

Instinctively she reached out and touched the minds of Lady Amanda and Counselor Troi, and through them the minds of Sarek and Riker. Unconsciously drawing strength from all four and alerting them to the danger she saw. When they felt her touch their minds, all four of them started, releasing them from the hypnotized grip of the pebble. Sarek immediately closed his eyes. Then remembering where his son stood, moved and blocking his sight shook Spock; bringing him out of the trance.

An air of power had settled over the group as Spock moved to break the trance holding the others. Lady Amanda, Ambassador Sarek, Commander Riker, and Counselor Troi each silently supported April, giving her strength and courage as she continued to wrap power around her like a blanket. Getting ready for the confrontation to come. The only ones no one was able to rouse were Data, and Q; who remained transfixed by the now pulsing light. With each pulse a new line was inscribed into the intricate picture of a door. The door was being inscribed with lines of white light onto the shifting colors of their surroundings. Finally in a desperate attempt to free Data, Wesley Crusher turned Data off. Then with the help of Captain Picard and Commander Spock, Wesley turned him away from the light and reactivated Data. When Data looked around Picard motioned him to be silent, forestalling any questions or comments he might make. Data acknowledged the order with a nod and took out his tricorder to take some readings on the recently noticed door.

"Q." April was the first to speak snapping Q out of his trance. "Drop the shield when I say, and then link all of us to each other in some way _other_ than physical. You may remain outside of the link if you so choose. However, I must insist on everyone else being a part of the link. I'll explain later. I'll even submit to a mindmeld if you want, but for now I need you all to trust me."

Silently looking at each other they all nodded in agreement. Then everyone except April who had never moved her eyes from the door looked at Q. While they had been deciding, Q had moved to one side of the light so that no one would have to look strait at the door when they looked toward him. Seeing their silent consent, Q proceeded to create a temporary mental link connecting everyone to each other. Data he connected to Picard only and reactivated the Borg implants to allow for the connection. At the same time he rerouted around and reprogrammed all of the Borg programming and implants to prevent Captain Picard from once again becoming Locutus (lo-q-tis) of Borg. Now, he _should_ need to be entirely reassimilated to become a part of the collective once more, and Data could now use Picard as a kind of switch board and transfer information through the Captain to anyone else, from his positronic net.

When Captain Picard realized what Q had done, he looked at Q in surprise. Q just shrugged and gave him a look which obviously said "ask later." All of this was done in complete silence to the throb of the light pulses.

When the final connections were made to April, she immediately began forming the palpable power into a shield around them. Leaving a small opening so that Q could maintain, his shield until it was no longer necessary.

"Q." With that one word April told Q to drop the shield. Immediately she snapped the breach in her shield shut as he cut power to his. Then they all watched in silence as the door finished forming; with it and the pebble outside of April's newly formed shield. Then they waited; watching as the door became ever more intricate. They didn't have to wait long.

Suddenly the door opened and a young man was shoved through. He was tall, no more than 25 standard years old. Dark brown hair, that was thick and short with bright blue intelligent eyes. He had on a brown tunic with brown pants and shoes.

He looked at them. Then turning he called out to the other one who had shoved him through the door with a bright young voice. "Hey! Your boss told you to put me in one of the empty transdimentional cells. This one has almost a dozen other people in here!"

Poking his head through the door a second young man said. "So it does. Well you'd all better come along and see the "boss", as he so nicely put it, and I'd suggest you put down the shield. Otherwise the "boss" might take offense. Hell, anyone here might take offense and try to kill you…Well come on." They just stared at the two men uncomprehendingly. Until Data spoke up.

"Sir, may I suggest we do as he has suggested. Unless we should remain in what they have identified as a transdimentional cell?" Data inquired snapping everyone out of their stunned silence.

"Quite right. April, would you be so kind as to remove your shield? We don't want to offend anyone, now do we? Number One, I want you and Counselor Troi to stay with April, to forestall any objections, Mr. Data will remain with me for the time being, as will Q. Captain, you have seniority and I think that for the time being we should continue to work together. Don't you agree?" Picard ordered in response to Data's inquiry and Riker's attempted request/objection.

"Captain, you really must stop reading my mind, I was only doing my job, as first officer." Riker answered the order jokingly. Smiling in response to Captain Picard's slight grin.

"A Mind Reader!?" exclaimed the uniformed young man, startled. "We must get you to see the "boss" as fast as possible. Then we'll see what happens." Turning quickly, he left motioning them all to follow.

As they followed, Q spoke-up quickly. "Actually none of us are mind readers. Though, I think a mind reader would be quite useful right about now. Oh, that's a relief. I'm now back at full power, Jean-Luc. Do you want to leave now or wait and see what happens?" Q conveyed the last bit telepathically.

April answered in kind. No. Let's wait. Besides I don't think that you can get us home just yet. I'm not experienced enough to do it instead of you and we still haven't figured out what the problem was in the first place. Much less how to fix it if it's still around. Just in case we should probably find an alternate route and you need to keep teaching me how to do things. Oh and one more thing, Q? Would you please teach me how to Duel with this? I have a feeling that I'm going to need to know how. She let the whole group hear both sides of the telepathic conversation. One more thing. I want them all to hear, so to speak, all of everyone's, in this group, telepathic conversations. Is that clear? She finished, clarifying the possible mind communication problem.

Perfectly, but I don't like the fact that they will be listening in on our lessons. Q scowled. Picard, Kirk, April, and Riker just grinned.

"Hey! Do you think Dad has figured out what we did yet?" said the first young man completely unaware of the mental conversation that had just taken place. As they walked down a suddenly stone corridor with thick wooden doors at strange intervals.

"Nah. Besides he still thinks I'm off on that silly mission. I never even left. A life is not worth that stupid cup. I still don't understand why he is willing to risk one or both of us just to get back a lead (atomic symbol: Pb) cup. I mean we aren't allowed to drink out of it. Unless we want to get sick that is. Oh, great, another one of the glowstones died. Looks like our little prank is up, we both have to help him with the glowstone. Hey, did you ever figure out where your knife got put?" the one in Uniform answered briskly.

"Nope. I wonder if someone took it for a special reason. What do you think, Orthos?" Asked the first man.

Orthos made a face and answered. "Aw, come on. You know I hate that name, Mart'an (Mar-t'an)."

"Alright, alright. You know I don't like that name, either. Alright, Sparky. You happy?" Mart'an answered.

"Thank you." Orthos/Sparky answered happily, while Mart'an looked disgruntled.

By now the group had walked about 5 meters and was coming to an intersection of corridors. Where they turned right into a passage that hosted occasional travelers, obviously running errands to get this or that. All of which acknowledged the two young men in one way or another. Ranging from a formal bow to a simple nod of respect, to which the young gentlemen each nodded in return, and otherwise ignoring them and continuing their conversation.

"Where are we going?" April asked after a few minutes of silence.

"To see our father. Mart'an, think we should swing by the kitchens and feed them first?" Sparky wondered in an offhand manner.

"You know I don't like being called that. Why do I have to tell you twice?" Mart'an scowled, still disgruntled and then thoughtfully. "Yes, we probably should. Though I don't think we should tell father right away that we fed them, don't you think?"

"I agree, 'Tan. The only reason I called you by your proper name was to annoy you and you did break dad's favorite scepter, even though he doesn't stand on ceremony. Hey! Remember the time he had us rule for the day and the ambassador took him for a slave? Ha ha ha." Sparky said jovially.

"Yes. You know we keep telling them and telling them we don't have slaves. Why don't they believe us? I mean, I know that there are slavers around that we haven't caught, but still…" 'Tan answered with a smile.

Turning down a side corridor that was slightly smaller and more traveled, Sparky answered thoughtfully. "Yes, I know. You know we're going to have to make this group too important to be taken by slavers. I think we have at least one at court. Especially the girls, otherwise I don't want to know what those slavers would do." Finishing with a shudder.

"Well boys, what do you want today? Ah! I see you brought some friends. Does your father know about them, or are you on your way to see him? Or better yet is this another batch you're smuggling out? Well speak up." the rotund cook asked jokingly.

"Oh, come on, Javis. You know we only smuggle out the ones father wants to release, but can't because of politics. Or that he'll regret imprisoning or killing later and half the time he knows about it. Anyway, we're on our way to see him, but I thought it might be a good idea to feed them first. What do you think? Can you scrounge up a meal for us?" 'Tan gestured at the group.

"Oh, I think I can dig up something." he turning away and then whipping back around with startling speed for one of his size. He smiled. "I almost forgot. Do any of you need special food? Since you most likely were in one of the transdimentional cells."

With a raised eyebrow Spock answered. "Yes, my father and I don't eat meat." Turning to Dr. McCoy, Spock asked tacitly. "Doctor, would you be so kind as to scan all the food; to ensure that everything is eatable for us?"

"Sure, Spock; with your physiology you never know what could make you sick." Bones answered with a nod of understanding.

"That won't be necessary, Doctor. I can make sure nothing is wrong with the food." Q interrupted promptly.

"No, Q. Dr. McCoy needs to do this. That way if the food is compatible we can make dishes for them in return. Say a special meal. I know a little cooking." April chided.

"I think that's a wonderful idea, April. I could make a casserole or a pie!" Amanda contributed enthusiastically. "If I can find the right ingredients, that is."

"Besides if the doctor finds something now and we get sick later anyway he'll have a better idea of what he's dealing with than if you just made the food safe regardless and weren't you just saying that you were having problems with your powers?" Wesley reminded Q.

"I have no objection." 'Tan said in a tone of voice, clearly daring Javis to contradict him.

Javis obviously wanted to object to the slight on his cooking and the thought of someone else using or possibly ruining his kitchen. However, he only shrugged and led them to a table obviously reserved for eating and not cooking. From the way everyone reacted to the young men it was obvious that they were well known and well liked in the kitchens. Joking and laughing with the kitchen staff and occasionally helping prepare food, while the group sat down and waited a little uneasily.

"Captain, I think we should focus on finding a way home. Data has a theory on how we got here and how to get back." Riker told Picard in a quiet tone of voice.

"Agreed, Number one; however, we need to first establish what our current situation is. Mr. Data, I will hear your theories later and I suggest that you at least pretend to eat. That is not an order, merely a suggestion." Captain Picard answered in an equally lowered voice, to which Data nodded.

Javis bustled over with three other's carrying a veritable feast. Plopping the dish he was carrying down right in front of Dr. McCoy; and watched while the Doctor used his medical tricorder to examine the meal spread before them. While Data preformed the same examination with his tricorder. Riker eyed the food with hunger.

"Is it safe to eat?" Asked Riker impatiently; obviously wanting to try the cuisine spread out before them.

"Do not be so hasty, Commander. For instance because of an unknown element, we may not consume; what appears to be tomato soup with pieces of meat." Data informed Commander Riker. Who shifted uncomfortably at the thought of the possibilities of what might have happened; if he had eaten that delicious looking soup.

"Odd. I believe I recognize this sequence. Though I can't seem to remember what it is. Spock, what do you think?" Dr. McCoy asked uncharacteristically refraining from their usual mutual verbal sparring; in favor of expediency, and accuracy.

"Fascinating. Mr. Data, would you please compare your readings with mine and the Doctor's?" Spock inquired with a raised eyebrow as he took his own readings and compared them with McCoy's. In response to Commander Spock's request Data maneuvered around the table to compare readings.

"Intriguing. Captain, Geordi, I believe you should see this. Commander, Counselor, I believe that April had earlier expressed an interest in the food preparation. As did Lady Amanda. Would you please escort them?" Data suggested with a slight emphasis on the notion of escorting April and Amanda. Riker, nodding to Captains Kirk and Picard as he stood. Gesturing for Counselor Troi, Lady Amanda, and April to follow him as he walked toward a group of cook's making pastries. While the captain was distracted Wesley found out what was bothering Data so much that he didn't want April or the Ambassador and his wife to necessarily know about it just yet.

"Can I see the readings Data?" Wesley asked curiously.

"Certainly." Data replied and showed Wesley the readings that he had taken.

"Oh.... Doctor McCoy is going to need to see these results. Has he seen them yet?" Wesley asked seriously.

"Yes, he has and the captain is going to look at the readings next." Data answered his young friend.

"Now, what is it that you wish us to see, Mr. Data?" Captain Picard quietly inquired curiously. After seeing the readings of all three men, he paled. "My God! You can't be serious. This indicates that…"

"Yes, Captain. The readings are all correct. However, there is the possibility that you may be inoculated from what we have uncovered. Dr. McCoy has indicated that for the time being it is acceptable to eat a meal and that he will deal with any side effects that occur before inoculation." Data informed the group with an assenting nod from McCoy.

"Very well. Doctor, would you please prepare the inoculations as fast as possible. However, Counselor Troi is half-bettazoid, half-human if you cannot adjust it appropriately, I believe Mr. Data can or Wesley might be able to help, his mother is my chief medical officer and, I'll go inform the rest of our group." Picard informed them, rising to observe April now helping to make the pastries, while the other three watched in amusement.

"I take it from the way he went pale that you found something?" 'Tan asked mildly.

"You could say that. What we found is normally deadly to all of us, except for perhaps him. (Jerking his head toward Data.) It's a good thing April insisted that I check the food, now I know that there is a danger; I might be able to find others that are not necessarily in the food or drink, but maybe in the very air." Dr. McCoy answered solemnly. Watching Captain Picard telling those who had not seen the tricorder data and their reactions to the news. You know, I need to do some tests with that girl. Otherwise I don't know what might happen. He thought.

Okay! What tests do you need me to do? April answered telepathically, startling Dr. McCoy so badly that he fell out of his seat on the other side of the room.

Before his med kit hit the floor, it seemed to pause in midair and settle gently on the floor. Protecting the precious contents of the bag. The only two who noticed its fall were Data and Spock, who looked at each other and raised their eyebrows simultaneously. Acknowledging to themselves and each other that they saw it land gently, so that nothing broke. Spock helped Dr. McCoy to stand while Data retrieved the med kit from the stone floor, returning it to the Doctor, as the rest of the group crossed the room to join them.

"Sorry, Doctor. I didn't mean to startle you." Apologized April as she came over and stood beside the now standing Doctor.

"That's alright, April. Just try not to do that again." He answered amused, retrieving his med kit from Data and examining it. His astonishment was clear for all to see when he discovered nothing had been affected in anyway by the fall. While April grinned impishly.

"I take it that we just missed something significant, at least for us, anyway." 'Tan commented curiously. Leaning casually against the table with his brother standing casually next to him while both of them having crossed their arms.

"I agree, 'Tan. What do you think? Do we take them to see father now? Or do they tell us what just happened and we plead their case to father?" Sparky commented casually. Motioning to Javis to leave. Who instead of leaving cleared the kitchen of everyone but the group, 'Tan, Sparky, and himself.

"I'm not so sure that it would be wise, if we tried to explain the situation, you now find us in." Answered Lady Amanda calmly and quietly. Moving to stand serenely next to April and her husband. While Captain Kirk, Commander Spock, Dr. McCoy, Wesley, and Data moved to finish flanking April. At the same time effectively hiding Geordi, Q, Captain Picard, Commander Riker, and Counselor Troi from view.

As if they had rehearsed it, Geordi took the lead as the quintet snuck out the door they had entered pausing only to allow Geordi to check for people around the Conner with his visor. However, he didn't think to look up and as a result the small group was ambushed by eight humans who dropped from the rafters. One of them managed to knock out Q while another grabbed Deanna and placed a knife at her throat.

"Stay where you are or she dies!" the man holding Deanna growled just loud enough to be heard and watching as Picard, Riker, and Geordi froze. "Good. Now, pick that one up and let's go see who you were running from. Shall we?" he motioned to Q and then for them to return the way they had come. After reentering the kitchen the man spoke up. "Your majesties, I believe these five were attempting to leave your audience without dismissal."

Looking at the group 'Tan asked "What did you hope to gain by this? You obviously have never been here before. You all are apparently protective for this young lady you call April and yet you leave her here with us. Where did you hope to escape to? Why are you even here? Well?"

"We meant no harm, however it seemed to us that one way or another you would imprison us. So it was thought that some of us should remain free to release the others if it came to that. Right now, we all just want to go home." April answered for all of them unknowingly giving a truthful response to what none of them had chosen to discuss but had instead merely acted upon. "And the reason they are so protective of me is because of my age. I don't think we can really explain what happened, or at least not to your satisfaction. Why don't we all sit down and eat something, if neither of you or Dr. McCoy has any objections? No? Good let's eat and discuss this over the meal." Briskly taking control of the situation and projecting an air of relaxation.

"Alright, I'll agree to that and 'Tan, it dose prevent dad from figuring out what we did, at least for a little while longer, and any way she intrigues me." Sparky/Orthos told his brother, sitting down at the table across from April, plainly wishing to pursue the matter by accepting her offer. 'Tan just shrugged and sat down next to his brother. "You can stop being mean now. I think, for now at least, they will be my guests. After all these charming ladies haven't had anything to eat yet. Javis, why don't we remedy that, and I would prefer if we spoke alone."

"I understand." Turning to the ambushers he said. "Sorry guys, you know what that means." Javis then turned away and started to finish up his earlier preparations to feed them.

"Yeah, yeah, we know." And he quoted. "'Only members of the royal family, those that they are providing a private audience to, and anyone serving them may be present.' Uhuh. Come on, guys. Let's go." The man holding Deanna growled releasing her, and leaving with the others grumbling and trailing behind him. Carefully closing the thick wooden door behind them and securing it.

"Now hold on a minute, before anyone eats anything I need to inoculate you and I want to check something really quick." Dr. McCoy interjected busily preparing the inoculations and checking his tricorder. One moment he was adjusting his tricorder to check something else the next he exclaims in alarm. "What the devil?... Oh great… Well the good news is we no longer need the inoculations, the bad news is if we don't eat something soon the parasites will make us all very sick if they don't kill us, and Data is affected too." He told them starting to look pale from his discovery.

"Then let's eat. Bones, is there anything else we need to worry about?" Captain Kirk asked.

"Aside from a bit of indigestion, nothing, Captain." He said.

"Then I want some of this!" April declared enthusiastically grabbing a platter of meat which was apparently originally a bird-like creature. Then looking around a little confused she asked. "Where are the plates and silverware, please?"

"You want our Silver!?" 'Tan asked alarmed for no apparent reason.

"Ha Ha Ha; No silly I want a plate and eating utensils, you know something that lets me eat the food without getting messy." She laughed amused and delighted.

"Oh! You want a plate and a belt knife. I think we can do that." Orthos said with relief and understanding, rescuing his brother in the process. Clapping his hands as if to summon Javis who was only a foot away. Then with a smile Orthos asked. "Would you please provide our guests with belt knives and plates, Javis?"

"Of course, Your Majesty." Javis answered mockingly to their answering smiles, and hurried out the door to retrieve some belt knives from storage with a cheerful step.

'Tan retrieving the platter from April's hand, set it on the table and began carving it and handing pieces to everyone saying. "Until Javis gets back, which might be awhile, if only because of the distance to that particular store room. And we don't want anyone to have any problems before he gets back." He explained.

Orthos had begun slicing up other dishes and handing out the portions like his brother, and at the last comment he shuddered and said seriously. "Yes, we don't want any of that sort of problems, and to help avoid them I am going to have to insist that everyone have a slice of meat. Unless of course you wish to collapse later. After all you two said you _don't_ eat meat, not that you _can't_ eat meat." Turning, he deliberately offered a large slice of meat to Spock and Sarek each. Which they took with raised eyebrows at his comment and began to eat, the slightly damp, well done meat, with a dark sand colored, thick, smooth sauce.

At the first bite everyone except Data, Spock, and Sarek commented on the wonderful taste and texture. Those still standing except for Mart'an and Orthos found a seat at the table. They ate in silence for the next few minutes and Counselor Troi made certain, Q drank something, even though he remained unconscious. Then without warning the door flew open and a plainly clad man with a regal bearing and air of command stormed into the kitchen. So obviously related to Orthos and Mart'an as to leave no doubt as to who was interrupting their meal with Javis unhappily trailing behind him into the kitchen. He stopped and after glancing at the group, looked at his sons and began tapping his foot waiting for an explanation.

"Sorry, he caught me on the way to the storage room and wanted to know where you two were. Apparently he discovered your little joke about ten minutes ago, and wanted to talk to you about it." Javis explained unhappily.

"Well boys, what do you have to say for yourselves?" He asked in a stern tone with a deep baritone voice. Still tapping he crossed his arms over his chest and waited as Javis went to a cupboard and got out some napkins for everyone. As he passed the table he gave them a look that to everyone except Data said, please don't interfere. April nodded her acknowledgment giving a response for everyone and Javis continued on his way, never breaking stride. Returning soon after and handing out the cloth napkins as he watched the drama between father and sons unfold.

"Well, Dad, it's kind of hard to explain. We figured you wouldn't mind too much that we fed them after you heard what happened and we were actually just demanding certain explanations of our own." 'Tan answered unhappily. Shifting from foot to foot in discomfort. "Apparently this all has something to do with her." He continued pointing at April. "We found them in one of the transdimentional cells that were supposed to be empty. We were bringing them to see you, one of them said something about mind reading and we decided to feed them before we introduced them to you."

"'Tan, what aren't you saying? Aside from the fact that you obviously like the girl." His father asked gently with some amusement; which grew when he saw, to his son's discomfort that his father noticed his blush and he couldn't hide it.

"Oooh, 'Tan is in love." Sparky teased, increasing his brother's discomfort and dodging around the table as his brother began chasing him around the kitchen.

"I am not!" Mart'an declared fervently while continuing to chase his brother around the kitchen. Only stopping when their father boomed "Enough!".

Turning to April he said. "It seems that you have stolen both of their hearts, young lady. Though I believe, one of them is only temporary, but the other…Hmm… My name is Marcheck. Now that you have all had your snack and my sons are no longer chasing each other about the room, like small children, I believe that for now you will all be our guests. Please, let me show you to your rooms. Hmm…I think that you all need a change of clothes if only to wash the ones you wear now. Javis, make sure they have a casual set and a formal set. If you prefer a certain style or design, Javis will provide you with paper and pen, please draw what you wish to wear. However I am going to require that you have one set of each casual and formal _Local_ attire in case we have other visitors." Then extending his arm toward the door he said. "Shall we?" With that the group proceeded him into the corridor with a sharp nod from Captain Kirk and a happy smile from April.

Marcheck took the lead once more in the hall with Orthos and Mart'an a step or two behind him leaving Javis to bring up the rear. As they walked Orthos began teasing 'Tan again with Marcheck occasionally glancing back at the two with obvious amusement.

Continuing to walk April began the mental discussion So, what do you guys think? Should we keep going with this route? Or try to investigate an alternate one? Data had picked up and was now carrying Q.

I think we should wait and see what happens. Deanna spoke up.

Agreed. Mr. Data can render specifics for new uniforms as the change of clothes. Now, the question is, do we retain the uniforms for our respective time frames or use only one of the styles, and which style will be used. Captain Kirk, I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter. Captain Picard communicated his humor with his thoughts as he walked a pace or two behind 'Tan, giving no sign of the silent conversation occurring just behind those leading the group.

I agree with new uniforms and if no one has any objections, for the time being we will use your uniforms as they have less color and will probably be more useful if we need to fade into the shadows. For some reason I feel it is imperative that we be able to do so. Captain Kirk answered trying very hard not to speak out loud.

Captain, if I may suggest something? Data interjected.

Data? By all means. How are you a part of this conversation, if I may ask? Picard answered surprised.

Q linked me to your Borg implants earlier, allowing me to participate now. As to my suggestion why should we not use the uniforms which only display color on the shoulders, but with rank stripes from captain Kirk's era? If anyone feels uncomfortable with this suggestion I can devise new temporary uniforms. Data told them silently while adjusting Q on his shoulder.

That is an interesting idea. A new voice broke in, causing the group to stop as one. Though Data only stopped so that he would not run into Captain Picard. Hm(chuckle)...You know, if you don't keep moving those escorting you might get suspicious. And we don't want that now do we? he said slightly amused. Oh, and don't mind me. By all means continue your riveting discussion. I won't tell. the deep, evil sounding, slick voice concluded and remained silent.

"Um...Something doesn't feel right, sir." Then to the rest of her group with meaningful looks April said, "I mean that chill that just ran up and down my spine. I hate when that happens, don't you guys?"

"Now that you mention it, April, I thought that I felt a presence, maybe two. I'm not sure. I thought that perhaps it might be an after effect of that cell, but I can't be sure. Captain, I think that our minds have been probed." Counselor Deanna Troi spoke up, stopping their escorts in their tracks.

Pale, Marcheck turned around slowly and asked cautiously. "Someone mentally probed you? Now I must insist that you wear our garb for the time being. Javis will still make the other one or two sets of which you specify the design and cut respectively. Come." he quickly turned down a dusty side passage continuing at a hurried pace for 10 or 15 minutes. He stopped so suddenly that Mart'an and Orthos cannonballed into him with everyone else stopping just in time so as not to slam into the threesome. "Here. This is a back door into your four rooms. One for each couple, one for the men, and one for the young lady. Or if you wish you may redistribute them as you please. Their doors are all in the same hall in a row. This corridor," He continued opening the wall to the left, making sure that they all saw how to open the secret door. "connects to all four rooms. I was going to assign servants, however in light of this event only Javis, Mart'an, Orthos, and myself will be allowed to visit you in your chambers, and I promise to knock before entering. you will be served as honored dignitaries with accompanying courtesies at formal and informal public meals. Use the indentation on the opposite side to open the door. When going between rooms please use this passage and if you wish to explore, especially if without aid. The four of us will leave one through each door. To decrease the possibility of someone kidnapping this young flower." He bowed to April. "I will leave her chosen room. Come. I will show you all, the other passages and compartments I know of in your rooms and how to use them."

Marcheck then turned through the secret door and proceeded to do just that. April chose a light blue room with a thickly padded floor and a canopy bed 25ft. by 20ft. big and a (very) springy mattress 2ft. high. The canopy and curtains were dark blue with white specks simulating the night sky. While the walls had clouds painted on them and the bedspread was a peaceful blue with the apparent texture of marble and the actual texture of the finest made cloth. Her wall opened just to the left of the head of the bed with a bed side table separating and marking the bed from the door. To open the secret door you had to press the center design in the bedside table or on the bed post. There was also a compartment inside the two of the bedposts. One in the head of the bed, three interconnecting secret rooms with two having an entrance from the main room and a single entrance each into the third room. The doors to the third room were also concealed. These hiding places were all a complete surprise to Javis who promised to clean the areas for use himself in each of the four rooms and their respective areas.

They then proceeded to the room Counselor Troi and Commander Riker chose, where to every one's complete surprise (and I mean everyone) they found that the wardrobe connected into the back of April's wardrobe. While the entrance to the passageway was behind a giant ornate silver mirror. They found that a tapestry concealed a forgotten library, which turned out to hold books of fictional tales, maps, and military papers of long finished battles and wars. On the apparently oak desk were papers, 10 or 20 poems, and 5 tales in various stages of completion. investigating a locked door they found two tubs each the size of a small pool just large enough to do laps in with a wall separating them and no doors. Since this was obviously a bath meant for the occupants of the rooms Marcheck promised to have them cleaned by trusted servants and discovered that there was a secret antechamber, one on each side with the last two rooms sharing one with passages into the bath chamber. Mart'an and Orthos showed them the secret compartments in the walls of the chamber and tubs that they had found as children and told no one of. The lavatory turned out to be at the end of the hall. While the decor of the bedroom was of gentle greens, grays, and blues, with a king sized bed with ornate silver designs and rich wood.

The next room was chosen by Lady Amanda and Ambassador Sarek, with a desert theme and a king sized bed slightly to firm for normal human comfort. In the three hidden compartments they found enough belt knives and matching bracelets for the whole group with a cryptic message which they decided to decipher later.

"Let's all wear a bracelet on our right wrist, that way if there are any problems we'll know who is a member of our group." She demonstrated her suggestion by putting on one of the bracelets then and there. "I also suggest we tell no one of this. I think that after we have all been measured we should exit through the back door of our rooms and be "discovered" looking around, lost and be officially brought to the throne room in an appropriate manner. However, Marcheck will recognize us as visiting dignitaries who he was about to inform the court would be arriving, and had forgotten to tell his sons about. We will need to find an excuse to don native garb." April suggested.

"We could tear our uniforms with the added excuse of bandits which would also explain our lack of luggage. Of course this could also be accounted to guards and a loss of luggage before arrival to explain why we were seen by some with un-torn garments earlier." Data suggested.

"Yes, but you must decide who will be the head dignitaries. I suppose we could pass most of you off as relatives..." Marcheck trailed off as he noticed Q begin to stir.

"(groan)...Oh, what a headache. (Pause)...Something is wrong." Q said, then paling even further than he already was from the headache, he told them. "I think I've lost my powers again. I can't get us back."

In the stunned silence that followed, comprehension dawned in Marcheck, Orthos, and Mart'an. With a look Marcheck sent Javis to stand in front of the main door to the room and his sons to block the secret passages.

"I think before I show you the last room that some explanations are in order. I ask only for the truth and that you not force me to have guards present while I question you. Now, how did you get into that cell?" Marcheck shattered the silence calmly.

"We don't know. One moment we were in a conference room aboard my ship the next we were in your cell. April did not arrive with us. Q brought her into the cell to try and help us get out. Not only did he nearly die in the attempt but so did she. He was too weak to maintain the calm zone he had created to protect us at the same size. Q reduced the size of the safe area while he collapsed and we tried to keep her alive. April woke up and when asked to hold the protections in place momentarily did so without any problems. Now that I consider it, how did you do that, April?" Captain Picard asked.

Sheepishly April answered. "At home I pretend to do that sort of thing all the time. So when Q asked. I kinda knew what to do and how to do it."

"We will have to find out what else you can do, a little later." Counselor Troi spoke up for the first time since Q's pronouncement.

"Yes, well after that everyone except April was somehow hypnotized by a light. Which began drawing a door and after she managed to rouse us we prepared for the worst and your sons came in. They know the rest." Picard finished.

"Wha…?" April said startled, and then with a look of concentration said, "Oh no you don't!... Shifting frequencies, you're not getting into my head, much less theirs!" Then with a look of satisfaction, "Good!" Noticing their stares for the first time she explained. "We just had an unpleasant visitor, he tried to look around in our heads and chose me as the door. I boxed him out and changed the frequency of our link, kind of."

"What do you mean kind of?" Dr. McCoy demanded.

"Well, I tend to think in limited terms of electronics and strategy. It's kinda hard to explain." She said apologetically.

"Can you explain a little bit more than that, April?" Counselor Troi asked gently, and slightly confused.

"Think of it this way. Our brains are just organic complex computers. What you can do to a computer, can be done to our brains. Well for information transfer and links and stuff. I just pretend our brains are computers and put the wires in the right place, or upload or download stuff from the computer I'm accessing. I've always been good with programs. When I evaluate a situation on the other hand I tend to look at it from a tactical stand point. So I just noticed a new, very slight presence and decided he wasn't supposed to be doing that and blasted him. I realized that if he was poking around in my head he might find the link and lock on to the frequency, either traveling on it or disrupting it and I don't know what would happen if he tried to disrupt it. Kinda like you guys do with the shields and phasers when you face the Borg, but not entirely. I think it will take him a couple of hours to lock on to the new frequency. If he is one of those people who can finish video games fast; if not it will take him at least a couple of days. When he locks on again I'll try encrypting the frequency at well." Seeing the disconcerted looks on everyone's face she added lamely. "Hey, at least I told you when I shifted frequencies."

"It's not that, April. It's just that we've never encountered someone with your, to say the least, unusual abilities." Counselor Troi soothed.

"You can say that again." Muttered Dr. McCoy, sulking slightly.

"I believe that, because of what has happened since you arrived and your arrival it's self. You may have only these three rooms. I would prefer that at least one of you stay with April at all times until further notice. To help avert disaster, I must insist that she be the head of your delegation. I will have my sons appear to dote on her for all formal occasions, at the very least and…" Marcheck broke off staring at something behind them.

"Hello, April. It's been a while." Said someone behind them. As they turned to see who had spoken, the room had begun to get chilly by human standards in the last few minutes. The speaker as it turned out was a ghost. His pale form was garbed in royal robes of state. His tall sharp features were softened by the obvious joy on his face and the mischievous glint in his eye. "Marcheck, you didn't tell me that you had invited my friend to stay with us."

April went over to him with a shriek of joy. Then stopping just short, she composed her face into a mask of stone and bowed solemnly then broke out in contagious laughter, which turned into hysterical laughter. Counselor Troi came over to her and gently held her as a mother would her child. The ghost looked confused and gave Marcheck a questioning glance; who just looked helplessly at the ghost.

"So, my games were real." April broke off sobbing. "They were all real, even my skills, and abilities. Stuff I know I could never do at home. They were real and so is all of this. It's not a dream. It's real."

"Not all of them. Some of them really were just games and fantasy. At least now I can stop looking like a mouse from that book series you called Redwall. No, you really can do such things here. Besides, you only felt that you need slight enhancement. That's good it means that you think you can push your limits a little farther but you're not being foolish or stupid about what you think you can attempt. You know what you can do but you also have a reasonable idea of what you might do. Now stop crying and come give me a hug." He scolded, gently with a smile that took any sting left, out of his words. She went to hug him and passed right through him. "April," he said gently. "You forgot to make me solid." As soon as he said it, he began to become more solid. Soon he was able to hug her tightly and comfort her.

"Martian, why didn't you tell me?" She asked quietly.

"What would you have done, if I had told you?" Martian asked gently.

"I don't know, but you should have told me. You've even called me sister before. You should have told me." April said with sadness.

"I know, little sister, I know. Marcheck, how did they get here?" Martian asked softly.

"We're not certain, but I suspect that it was something we could never have anticipated. Do you know any of the other's, sir?" Marcheck answered

With a glance, Martian looked them all over, from the standing Starfleet officers to Q who Data had set on the floor at some point, back finally to Marcheck himself. "No, not really. However I believe that April has spoken of them before." Then Martian said gently. "April, it's time to let go. I've figured out what we shall tell the court. Marcheck, I found them wandering the halls and believe that one of the ancient riddles or spells locked on to them, bringing them here and disturbing my rest. I believe your sons found them?" At his nod, Martian continued. "Then it will be that your sons found them and I stumbled on them later and recognized April from earlier excursions, and informed you that they were to be treated as family, and that April is not only available, but that I wished her to become family officially, one way or another. This will give your sons a better excuse to follow her around and dote on her. After all, who's gonna argue with the family ghost?" Martian finished with a smile.

"It' a good idea, and it gives us a chance to keep someone near her. Also, if I formally adopt her..." Marcheck caught on.

"NO! We can formally adopt her right before she leaves, but until then she has caught my interest as family and your sons' interest as a wife. April, what you did to that mental intruder was just right, but don't change the link frequency again. By changing it they might learn what frequency it's on. If you lose contact with anyone, then they are no longer in control, and trapped within their own minds. Find me and tell me. I will fix the problem. One way or another." Then Martian noticed the bracelets and belt knives they had uncovered. "_Where did you get these!?_" Martian asked very seriously, and slightly scaring April.

"In secret compartments, in the wall, the bed post, and the wardrobe." She pointed to each place as she said it. He stared at April.

"I think, that my little lie to the court has just become a reality." Martian stared at April. Then his eyes widened. "April are you making me fully solid!?!"

"No." She immediately answered.

"The bracelets!" Martian said suddenly. "The bracelets are bringing me back into phase!"

"What do you mean, Martian?" April asked tentatively.

"I'm not actually dead, but I've survived for centuries beyond my original life span in this state. I never discovered what changed me into basically a ghost." As he finished phasing back into reality he stared at his hands, then at April. Suddenly he scooped her up in a giant bear hug, laughing and crying, as the others stared stunned. "I'm solid again!!! April, you brought me back! You used the bracelets to bring me back! Thank you!" he gently set her down. "I think that this qualifies her as a family member, don't you, Marcheck?" He looked at Marcheck with intense happiness for the situation.

"Yes, uncle. I believe this qualifies." At their looks he admitted. "He's my great-grandfather's brother or my great great-uncle. This certainly qualifies all of you for at least honorary family membership, at the very least. Uncle, what triggered this?" Marcheck asked.

"I'm not sure, but April has a unique power signature and abilities. It is possible that her physical presence in addition to her wearing at least one of the bracelets caused me to phase back into life, so to speak. Dr. McCoy, April holds you in high regard. To make sure this is really happening would you be willing to examine me and determine if this is a problem for anyone?" Martian asked sobering. "Or if it's permanent?"

"Of course." McCoy answered understanding the possible ramifications. As he was about to move to take readings of Martian, the pile of belt knives, (sheaths and belts included) and bracelets suddenly jumped into the air and attached themselves to everyone except Marcheck and Q.

"The riddle..." Marcheck whispered in dread.

"What riddle?" asked April preventing everyone from continuing to attempt to remove the bracelets from their right wrists or the knives and belts from their waists.

"You can't be serious, Marcheck." Martian answered.

"It fits. It all fits. Martian, if I'm right then, so are you and whatever happens they at the absolute least are going to need royal protection." Marcheck answered, still pales.

"_What Riddle?_" April demanded.

"It's more of a prophecy really. You sure you want to hear it?" Marcheck asked hesitantly. Seeing her glare he said. "Alright." and then with a helpless shrug Marcheck began reciting:

_"**One Star shall come, of strange decent**_

**_A spirit shall become flesh once more_**

**_Companions and champions shall arrive to do the bidding of the Star_**

**_And Survival or Disaster shall be in the Star's hands_**

**_Of the Companions and Champions one will hold the history of a forgotten race_**

**_and have been controlled through strange magic's_**

**_One will be a healer who fights always with his warrior friend_**

**_One will be the warrior and brother to one who cheats death_**

**_One will be the death cheater_**

**_One will be a metal golem with a true human soul_**

**_Two will be the parents of the warrior_**

**_One will be a man in a child's body_**

**_Two will be what is called Imzadi and linking through their first love_**

**_The bracelets and knives of the old house will be worn by them_**

**_Through blood not of this world do they rightfully claim relation to the old house_**

**_Beware the serpents which will rise to strike down the Star and it's companions_**

**_If the Star and company are struck, then all is in jeopardy_**

**_Great change will occur_**

**_Beware that you are not caught fighting this change of tide_**

**_In your hour of need seek the Star_**

**_Do not feed the Star or any of its companions any of the sacred foods in ceremony, least all be lost_**

**_Of the companions one will not be marked as heir to the old house and will instead cede his place to the spirit who becomes flesh, linking the old and the new_**

**_Beware him, he cares not for any but very little besides himself_**

**_Two worlds now combine for the Star is not truly of the world it was born into but of an unknown world out of time_**

**_The unmarked heir will upon single unbroken full recitation of this riddle in his presence return home never to be allowed to return hither for his companions..."_**

He broke off then hesitantly. "I'm not certain I should continue, unless you insist on hearing the rest." At their nods he continued:

**_"The Star alone may access the true power of this castle, any who are not of the Star's party who attempt this shall die_**

**_Those of the Star's party who attempt this before it's time shall become the spirit which returns to flesh_**

**_Beware; the warrior thinks that he is scholar alone though his ancestors were warrior too_**

**_Sailors of the stars_**

**_Companions and champions_**

**_Guard this young star well_**

**_Through your blood you are bound to her_**

**_Heed this warning, oh king_**

**_Let not any harm the Star lest she turn on you as a dragon turns upon the villagers who seek to kill it, or a wolf who hunts its hunters, or even one of the undead who seeks revenge upon the living_**

**_Do not slay any of these least they be the Star in disguise or transformed by a foe unless you are defending against an occurring attack_**

**_If the Star asks, cure her of being alive and yet of the undead_**

**_Before the Star is needed she will play at the use of her power and know not what is occurring_**

**_The Star will have powers unheard of and undreamed of_**

**_Beware her wrath but beware more the wrath of her god and true master for all her uncharted power comes from him that she might better serve him._"**

"You must be joking." Q scoffed.

"No, he's not, Q. Before someone recites that again, in its entirety, I need you to teach me to duel with these powers, these abilities. What would happen if you disappeared before you teach me, and I actually need to use it? Someone's already, nearly got by my standing defenses. If he had wanted to kill me I'd be dead already. There is no way I would have halted or even slowed down his attack!" April stormed.

"Wait, wait, wait. You mean you didn't remember to establish a back up to bring to bear? April, that's one of the first things you're supposed to do, and you bloody well know it!" Martian, obviously upset nearly shouted.

"I still haven't adjusted enough to this dimension. I usually link the back up to the background power or radiation. The only other source right now is their life forces! It Could Kill Them!" April shouted defiantly. "You know as well as I do that unless I use an external source for at least the basic minimum shield on the back up, not only will I be totally vulnerable, but everything about me will go wily nilly, out of control while I'm out cold or asleep! I can't use Data anyway because he has a technology power source. Mine has to be neutral and you know it! Or at least you should know it. What was I supposed to do? Kill them to keep one person out of my head!?! I can't use Q. He's not neutral either. Nor does he get his power from the same source as I do!"

They glared at each other for a few moments before finally Martian sighed and apologized. "You're right, April. I'm sorry. Of course you're right. After all why would you tell me exactly how you did something or what your power source was? I never really asked and I'm not sure I wanted to know." Martian answered her tirade quietly, still a little startled by her retaliation.

A new voice drew their attentions. It belonged to a thin, black haired, angular, slimy, evil seeming man of average height. He was wearing a black robe lined with silver and black embroidered lining."So this is the Great Martian. The one who thwarted and killed my grandfather. You don't seem to be much, squabbling like a child and with a girl at that, and not even one from our kingdom. A worthless slave. Humph. You really shouldn't be bothering with the likes of her. It's no wonder that the king (looking directly at Marcheck) and his sons are so weak and useless." His slick black hair added a sense of something not easily identifiable. It obviously scared April and made her wary. The man continued. "Now, I can kill you as you did my father. You never gave me the chance before; After all, what can you do to a ghost?"

"What are you talking about? I never killed anyone. I was trying to stop him. You were there! How could you believe that it was my intention that he die!? My own brother! For trying to stop him, trying to protect him. I got us both killed." Martian answered defensively.

"You're lying. You're lying to cover your own tracks. It won't work on me, uncle. Father told me exactly what happened."

"I doubt that and I still haven't figured out how you've continued to live much less maintained your youth, Grental(gren-tal). Of course I wouldn't mind knowing how, now. (Serious tone)You know very well that I would never have hurt him, or your father, or you for that matter." Before he could continue Grental noticed the wink of light reflecting off of the bracelet now adorning Martian's right wrist and with an inarticulate shout of fury attacked not Martian but April instead. Drawing a knife from within his robes, he raised it, ready to strike at the girl who Martian cared for as a daughter.

"Freeze!" At his commanding shout everyone froze. Grental was suddenly calm. He smiled viciously. "Goooood. Now you will all stay where you are and make sure that I can see all of your hands at all times or she dies."

Having heard the ruckus 'Tan, Sparky and, Javis returned to the room to see that Grental was there holding a knife to April's neck, obviously having done this before. "Be careful what you do, my lords." Grental said in a mocking tone. "Least my hand slip and spill this young lady's blood. Her death will not be my fault, but all of yours." His malicious grin drew the eyes of all. No one noticed the sudden look of panic which overtook April's previously calm expression.

"Martian!! Something's wrong!" She called in panic.

"You've been in situations like this before, so don't panic now." Martian replied not taking his eyes off of Grental's face.

"NOOO!!!!! He's breaking into my head again. Grental, let go I don't want you hurt while I do something very stupid to stop this. PLEASE!!! You can kill me later just let go now!!!" April cried desperately trying to get out of his grasp and convince him that something was truly wrong and dangerous.

"NO! I'll not let my revenge go. Not when I'm so close I can taste it." He responded holding her even more tightly.

"You don't get it! Let go of me! (Bite)" April, in total desperation bit into his hand causing him to release her and tend to his injury.

She did not run to her friends as they expected but away from them as fast as her legs could carry her. Data ran and caught her. Gently bringing her back to the group.

"No, Data! Let go! You might not be affected, I don't know, but you have to let me go! I'm putting you all in danger. Something has gotten into me. Until I finish fighting it I have to stay away! You have to stay away! Please!!" In an effort of superhuman strength she broke away and ran to the other end of the room, away from her worried friends. "Stay there. I don't want you to get hurt. I have to do this. I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to keep it contained." April said with sorrow and worry

"Captain, she is truly worried for our safety, and there is another presence. It's almost as if it wants us to come near her, but I also sense cunning and (with a shudder) what I would define as true evil. It wants us dead, in as painful a way as possible, but it doesn't care who the pain comes from as long as it can get the most possible pain from its victim. We need to stay back." Deanna warned, holding the group back with her words.

April snarled in fury, and began to grow fur, giant bat-like dragon wings, and fangs; and the fur grew out of the dragon scales that appeared before it. She began to grow claws; her ears became pointed, then to the horror of the Enterprise-D crew members Borg implants began to appear. "No! This is not happening! I will not let it happen! Not here! And Not now! I don't care what you do! You're Not Hurting My Friends! Even if I have to release every inhibition and suppression I have active, even if I have to become all of them and none of them, You Are NOT...GETTING...MY...FRIENDS!!!! ROOOAAARRRRRR!!!!! NOW GET OUT OF MY HEEEAAADDD!!!!!!!" Clutching her head April crouched down and roared and roared and roared, giving her a mental boost and finally kicking out the intruder who had just tried to trap her inside her own body and use it to slaughter the others in the room. She then began the return transformation back into a young human woman. When she was finished, she stood up, looked over at her friends and said, "Heh, sorry, but I did tell you I needed to do this alone and I didn't want you to get hurt." And she promptly closed her eyes and collapsed.

They ran to see if she was alright. She wasn't. There was little they could do for her with no obvious injuries and no equipment that would provide correct readings in response to the scans they took of her. So they put her on her chosen bed and waited, hoping she would get better, wishing they could help her. Eventually someone came to the door looking for Marcheck and his sons, fearing they had been kidnapped. Marcheck explained that a young lady of a noble line had come to see him but that she had been grievously injured in his defense and that now he needed the palace healers to come and examine her, as well as the mind healers, and find Grental and bring him here "for the mind healers to look at him, he didn't look or act well when I last saw him." and that "I will provide an explanation to the court for my absence and this situation as soon as the young lady in question is better and can be apologized to for her dreadful experience." and to "fetch any and all wizards, sorcerers, magic wielders and users of any and all types, and any and all with mind powers within 20 kilometer of this castle". No one noticed the man who faded into the background, wearing antiquated royal robes, as if he were nothing more than a ghost who didn't want to be noticed.

Later Martian took aside Marcheck and his two sons to discuss what was to be done about April. "We now know why the warnings not to kill any of the undead except while we are under attack. The question is do we tell them about her being the star or do we keep it quiet? Our line is now a part of the old empire, thanks to her. This is a powerful gift. We need to help her but the question is how? Marcheck, do you have any ideas?"

"Well there is no question that she and her companions must be given the upmost attention and protection. To validate the increased protection we can admit that the attack was not just meant for me but for her as well... There is always the risk that such a statement will cause unwanted attention, but that risk can be slightly altered with increased vigilance and the boys as well as me really spending time with her. Whatever happens we have to reward her for protecting me. I've already admitted it to some of the servants so it would be understandable if I suddenly took a liking to her. How are we going to explain you though, uncle?" Marcheck brainstormed.

"Just announce that the star has appeared but wishes to remain nameless for the time being, for more freedom of movement. We have to act fast before too many rumors start flying throughout the court. There is too much at stake now. Perhaps I was too hasty in saying no to adding her to the family through adoption. Why don't we, instead say that she has come to stay with us and that she has not had a proper education due to the fact that she was forced into hiding for one reason or another and her retainers are the only family she has now. With their cooperation we coooould pull it off. Her uncanny talents can be the explanation for my current state and she does need the training. I am no expert and what I've done for her training thus far has been inadequate at best. However only Javis from the servants and we from the court should know about the training. We will have to get the consent of her companions and they may wish to help train her. Perhaps it's better this way." Martian answered with total seriousness.

"Uncle...'Tan and I have talked and we would still like to court her. Also she should probably have most of her group as retainers and servants. We understand that they may balk but... (He rushed on) if she were the only one, it would make more sense. I mean no matter how many retainers and servants you have, you always manage to slip away from all of them from time to time, and having us teach her and some very protective maybe even over protective liegemen would help explain her sudden arrival inside the palace and her lack of understanding in our ways; especially if she was a hidden heir. Hidden from her enemies with the rest of her family gone." Sparky spoke for both brothers.

"That is the solution we were just discussing. Are we then all agreed that April is someone's hidden heir and that her liegemen realized that she needed an education and social interaction with those of her own station and they snuck her in to the palace to talk to me, having already met Uncle Martian and getting worried that she needed training in her unusual abilities, not knowing that I had two sons?" At their nods he continued. "Good. Then we have to inform her 'liegemen' as to what's going on then, don't we? Let's go tell them." Marcheck led them into April's room, cleared it of everyone except the Starfleet officers, Sarek, Amanda, Q, Martian, 'Tan, Sparky, and Javis; and told them of the plan.

"Are you sure that this will work?" Riker

"No but it may be the best way to introduce you all to the court with as little fuss as possible." Martian

"I think that at least one of us should be introduced at a similar social rank. Perhaps the counselor, after all you are of the third house of betazed after your mother. (Smiling)" Picard

"Don't remind me." Deanna said with a small grimace.

"If she was in hiding how did she get so many liegemen and servants?" Riker asked.

"Perhaps, Captain Picard could be introduced as the Counselor's uncle and the Counselor introduced as a recently located relative? If we are of a distant land we could have heard of this one through merchant's tales and decided to visit. When you consider three nobles this is a very small group of servants and liegemen, the better to get through undetected by our enemies." Data commented

"It's a good idea Data. The only problem is that I hate formal functions." Picard said ruefully.

"You'll take music and old books with real paper over a formal function any day. Right, Captain?" April added, startling the whole group, having just woken up.

"How long have you been awake?" Martian demanded turning on her.

"Not long. I've been half asleep for the last 10 or 15 minutes. Data, it's a good idea but we may need Sarek and Amanda in the political arena as well as Spock. They have the most experience in this arena, after all Sarek is an ambassador and Spock grew up as an ambassador's son. It makes total sense to put them in the political arena with Deanna. The problem is the number of people we are going to introduce to this specific arena, if I heard correctly that I'm going to be introduced as someone important then we have a slight problem. There are too many of us who would be good in the political arena. I myself am going to be terrible that I can tell you now. With you guys I do fine but that's because I know you, even if you don't know me. That's the whole problem. I just don't do well in social situations." a few moments of silence then. "(sigh) you're going to insist that I'm someone important aren't you?" At their silent gazes she sighed again and continued. "Sarek and Amanda should be introduced as 4th cousins or something like that and Counselor Troi as my aunt. Spock, Sarek, Data, and Deanna please don't admit that you aren't human. Same goes for you; Q. Wesley can be my childhood friend of a lower social rank. It's probably not unheard of and I was supposed to be in hiding. For now we shouldn't admit that Spock is your son, but if it comes up we should probably admit that he is related to you, say a nephew or illegitimate son, placing him possibly between social worlds, but it's up to you guys. Or we could just introduce the Ambassador as an Ambassador then the rank would be secure and having or not having a noble bloodline won't matter, since this seems to be based on a human middle ages society. (Sigh) It's up to you."

"I'll be your aunt, April. We'll have to work on your social skills among so called High society. I hope you like dresses." Deanna laughed at the face April made. "What do you know about this sort of thing, April?"

"Very little, sorry." April said apologetically.

"That's alright, you were supposed to be raised in hiding where learning such things would get you noticed and possibly killed. So I don't think anyone's going to really mind." Marcheck commented mildly

"April, I noticed, during your transformation, you had Borg implants. Have you been assimilated by the Borg? How did you get away?" Picard asked deadly serious.

"Yes, I was assimilated but... it didn't work very well. You see... the implants and subsequently the Borg couldn't control me. I was and still essentially am a rouge Borg. They never had control of me, if that game was real." April answered worriedly and tiredly starting to doze off once again. They allowed her to return to the realm of sleep as they continued the discussion without her.

"Her idea of introducing the Ambassador as an Ambassador has some merit. He could have returned to give a report just to find a coup (coo) occurring; helping to rescue and hide her, and your son, Spock is it?" at Spock's nod Marcheck continued. "Spock could have come along on this last trip to continue learning and possibly practice the language of diplomacy. This would allow for adequate liegemen and servants fitting rank and situation. Whatever happens I don't think it would be wise to discuss this imaginary coup. It would also fit giving you only 3 rooms. Servants have servant quarters but some do choose to sleep in their master's room upon their need or defense. Which would match your situation even better in fiction and in life. The only problems might arise from none of you sleeping in servant quarters. You sir would have a hard time explaining that band of metal over your eyes. I suppose that we could pass it off as some sort of medical equipment." Marcheck said doubtfully.

Martian volunteered. "We are set up on a 'middle age' society but our technology is quite a bit more advanced. We can say that his eyes were burned and for the time being he needs to wear it so that he won't go totally blind and can see to a limited extent."

"I am, as you put it, "totally blind" without this." Geordi said with ironic humor pointing at his visor.

"Oh, well I guess that makes it simpler to pretend that you are blind without it." Martian said slightly taken aback. After a brief awkward silence he continued. "It would likely be better if the captains were chief stewards or some other high ranking servant, perhaps everyone should just be liegemen. Liegemen are sworn directly to their master or mistress not just paid to work, so they have a higher sense of loyalty and rank higher than a typical servant. They also are paid through room and board with an allowance and are not considered free men or peasants. If a liegemen needs to be punished for one reason or another their master is the one to dictate the punishment and order it delivered. However having liegemen is limited to nobility." Martian finished his lecture. "The choice is yours since you are all free men. The only problem is to ensure that there are no complications about various aspects of our society; we should most likely actually make you liegemen officially, here. I do not know whether it will be binding when you return but there is a kind of background magical force which makes the oaths and relationships more binding than mere words and honor. Because of this it is very hard to ignore a summons from your lord if you are a liegeman. Just as it is very hard for a loyal lord to ignore a royal summons unless the magic feels that there is a very good reason to ignore it."

"There was also something wrong about her transformation. Hmmm..." Martian absent mindedly looked at the Starfleet officers as he was thinking. "I know what was different!! Her clothes! They don't normally change when she transforms but this time they did. Under the transformation she was wearing a uniform like yours Picard but the rank pins were different instead of your 4 single circles she had a single pin of 1 solid gold circle with a golden line outlining the circle in a square around it. What does that mean to you?" Martian asked in curious perplexity.

In slight shock and a quiet voice he answered. "It means that she's a Starfleet admiral." To everyone's shock except Q and Martian.

Q confirmed Picard's statement/revelation. "Yes, she is a Starfleet admiral. However, there is a slight catch." Everyone looked at Q. "She has no training or experience and she believes that any Starfleet rank she has should have been earned and that _at best_ she only deserves the rank of cadet. It's one of the reasons she didn't mention it. Another is that she thought you wouldn't believe her. When she chooses to she can command, she has the ability but not all the necessary confidence. Because of her past treatment she has a slight problem of making excuses or trying to perfectly explain a situation. Nothing incurable from a command standpoint. She also takes responsibility for her good and bad decisions. Also no one, not even the Q are certain how she became a Starfleet admiral but one thing we know for certain, whether anyone can locate the information confirming it or not; She is a Starfleet admiral! I don't think even she is certain how she became a Starfleet officer much less an admiral. Though one of her theories is that she may have sent an application to Starfleet academy and somehow it got turned into an acceptance of an admiralty."

"What about what appeared to be a werewolf aspect?" Riker

"That, her dragon, and her vampire aspects you need to discuss with her." Q

"That's odd, you don't often respect anyone's privacy and yet you're not giving us her background. In a way that says (sarcastically) that you actually care. What's going on Q?" Riker

"She's our only real chance of getting back." Q answered simply.

Picard and Riker exchanged a glance full of meaning and looked at the sleeping form of their newly discovered ranking officer. Wondering what they might be in for next and how to handle the situation best.

**A/N: If you don't Review you'll be sorry. Without reviews and questions/suggestions in the reviews to answer I can't get past my writers block. IF YOU DON'T REVIEW I WILL WITH HOLD CHAPTERS!!!! (EVIL CACKLE)**


	2. Chapter 2 April starts to crash & burn

**Author's Note:** I really like translating stuff back and forth between codes so I just had to include a code of some sort somewhere in the story aside from the riddle it's self which, if you know the star trek episodes and characters well, is fairly self explanatory. If you didn't understand it I'll give you a breakdown of who is who in the riddle later but first part 2! Also I apologize about the text transfer errors in part one I didn't realize that some of the format wouldn't translate when I uploaded it onto the site. So a code will show up later and I will provide translations for any Vulcan, Romulan, or Klingon I use. By the way the reference for the admiral ranking pin at the neck was obtained from "The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future updated and expanded version" from pocket books copyright October 1999 under the insignia for the TNG, DS9, and Voyager series section. I thought it would be a good idea to have an admiralty from one of the later time periods for some strange reason. So, Yes I do do my research, or at least I try to. (cheeky grin) Sorry for the long note but it was necessary. On to the story! Oh one last thing this is a short chapter because you guys haven't been giving me my reviews. WITHOUT REVIEWS I HAVE NO MATERIAL TO USE FOR CONTINUING THE STORY EFFECTIVELY!!! So Chapter 3 will not be posted until I have _at least 10 reviews_ for the story. _**If you want more you have to cough up the reviews and ask me questions so that I think to answer them!!!!!**_

-Genuka-

**Standard Disclaimer: If you recognize it from star trek or doctor who I don't own it otherwise. IT's MINE DON:T TOuCH WITHOUT PERMISSION. please keep all hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times. Q may or may not be mess'n with your brain.**

I awoke to the sound of people moving around in my room. On an unfamiliar bed, in a strange place. I lay instinctively still, knowing I wasn't at home in my own bed. Then... I remembered. I remembered everything. Everything that had happened since I had been rudely jerked from my college class, that I'd only turned 21 recently. That I wasn't living with my mother. At least not anymore, and that none of this was a dream. That almost all of my pretend games since I was 10, that had that weird sense of reality to it, were _**real**_. That I really could shapeshift into a dragon, that I really was the queen of the Vampires and Werewolves, that I really had been sort-of assimilated by the Borg. And that "Technically", I was the ranking Starfleet officer. OH, GOD. I sat up, looked around at the unfamiliar faces and tried not to cry. The bed was wonderfully big and soft with it's peaceful blues, giant, comforter, and big "fluffy" pillows (white). The bed curtains were royal blue and nice and thick but currently open. I could see at least six different (clearly) maids in their uniforms, bustling about cleaning and setting everything up for some of the main group to room with me. Suddenly one of them looked up and noticed I was awake. She squeaked, alerting the others to my altered state.

"I'm sorry m'lady. We didn't mean to disturb you. Now that you are awake we will fetch his highnesses. If you'll excuse us." Said the lead maid (not the one who had squeaked) and without waiting for a reply left, taking the other maids with her when she left.

I just sat there staring, trying not to cry, while they filed out of the room leaving me alone. In my giant but still slightly cheerful room. I noticed that no one was apparently aware of the secret compartments/rooms. I didn't have to wait long until someone else came into my new room or rather someones. I watched as Marcheck, 'Tan, Sparky, Martian, and the original group that I had wound up joining all trouped into my room with Javis bringing up the rear.

Martain spoke. "We've decided what to tell the court and that you most definitely need proper training with your abilities or at least as proper as we can get with risking you as little as possible. There are more people than you might think who are quite willing to kill you. Especially, if they find out that you are the Star of the Prophecy. So no arguments over any security measures we decide on. Okay?"

"Okay." I agreed. Then turned and burrowed under the covers and still trying not to cry, pretended to sleep.

"That was waaaay to easy." Martian said. I heard him moving toward the bed and knew he was gonna take the covers away. He did. He ripped them from the bed and my grasp. "April, I know it's all just sinking in but you can't hide under the covers and you've dealt with worse before. So get up. It's time to start your day and deal with your new reality."

I groaned but got up out of bed.

"You'd better have a severely caffeinated, good tasting drink for me or else." I muttered ominously. I glared at Martian. "You KNOW I'm not a morning person." Then after glaring for a few more minutes, I ordered. "Caffeine. _NOW_."

"That's more like it. We'll find you something to wake you up." Martian continued blithely, content that he'd roused the dragon that was me. "Now, we need your measurements for new clothes. We still haven't decided on the uniforms or livery. The uniforms could double as livery. As to your story for the court you are an heir to a kingdom. The _only_ heir to the kingdom. The ambassador, his wife, and his son all arrived home to deliver their report and a coup(coo) was partially underway. He and his family managed to save you and hide you. Realizing that you needed training they brought you to us. You, helped us and now we owe you a debt. You and your liegemen."

"Liegemen?!?!?" I said surprised "You're not talking about the definition that applied in my world in it's middle ages, are you?"

"Similar, but not quite and the others not only understand but have agreed to the risks." Martian proceeded to explain the liegeman system and it's reinforcements.

Needless to say I was _**not**_ happy. I did _not_ want them bound to me magically, especially when I had this bad feeling that if I died with them bound to me then they would die as well. But the choice was theirs. I was also kind of flattered that they would trust me like that. Then he explained about my end and how if my requests or orders were unreasonable the binding wouldn't enforce it. I not only felt much better about it but a little cheated and jealous as well. Unfortunately both Martian and Counselor Troi read me like a book and thought that my reaction was funny. They laughed.

I glared at them. "It's not funny!" I told them.

"We're sorry April. There is no real reason for it to be funny. It just is." Counselor Troi apologized for both of them.

"Just try not to do it anymore." I said in a surly fashion still upset over their laughter.

Unfortunately they could tell there was something else that was bothering me. I knew I couldn't hide it from them for long. So when they asked me what was wrong I explained. Not only had Q picked me up in the middle of class but that I had just gotten back from a long road trip out of state stuck in the same car as my mother, who is very controlling and I would on occasion term OCD in the control department, and also stuck in the car with us was my swiss cheese brained brother. Now I love them both dearly but sometimes you just can't stand your relatives. And this was one of those times which I explained. Graphically. Then when we got home my other brother wouldn't let me put my stuff away so that I could just go to bed. Noooooooo, he wanted to pick a fight instead. I explained all of this. So I had to deal with all of that and the underlying issues that the others managed to wheedle out of me and a bunch of other stuff that I just don't want to think about right now much less talk about. The important thing though is that they listened. THEY LISTENED. And they didn't judge. They just sat there and let me pour my heart out. That's all I needed them to do was just listen. They were and always will be my family. With or without the blood ties doesn't matter. They are my family far more than some of those who are closest to me by blood. That remains to this day.

I remembered a man who was like me and yet not like me. I was originally human, what I am now is up for debate. He was and is like fire and ice and the fury of the oncoming storm and he calls himself the Doctor. Yet I know that some of the things I've seen and the way I've seen them would give even such a powerful, old, haunted Timelord nightmares. Just as much of his past would give me nightmares. He contains his storm and I contain mine; though in a very different way, but both storms show themselves in our anger and our fury. When one of us is angry, the flash in our eyes causes people to back away in fear. This is one of the reasons we both keep our storms tightly leashed. Otherwise we would be even more alone then we already are, while we fight to protect others least we are selves fall. We both walk away from fights if we can. He more than I but he has seen _**TRUE WAR**_ and I have not. I pray that I never have to. We are both storms of deadly force. So how do you comfort a storm when it's been hurt so deeply? You can't without help from the storm and others. The Storm must wish for the healing before the healing can start.

With a start I came back to myself and realized that not only was my tale told but some of the Doctor's tale was as well. Enough that they understood the analogs I drew between him and myself. Since my games are real, I've worked with the Doctor before. He gave me his name, then he gave me back all of his memories of me. Sometimes timetravel can give you a splitting headache. One way to tell it apart is to go by _personal_ timelines for the timetravelers and anything that doesn't travel in time can be accounted for through normal (timestream) temporal or time progression. It's like separating a single thread and jumping it or weaving it in and out of a fairly set pattern that's a never truly solid timestream. The single thread is a personal timeline. It can be complicated yet simple. TIME ISN'T FIXED! Back on Topic! They had actually listened! I was suddenly tired again. I said so and declared that I was going back to bed. I retrieved the comforter from Martian, Climbed back up on the bed, curled up under said comforter and went back to sleep.

(Now the Real me is going to bed too. Hope you liked the chapter. Remember----No more chapters without at least 10 total reviews for the story! 'night! ;) ZZZzzzzzzzz )


	3. Chapter 3 The Dream

3. Chapter 3 The dream

**Disclaimer:** If you recognize it from a legally patented show/book/game/etc. I don't own it. XP again Q may or may not be mess'n with your head!

**A/N:** Okay, I got tired of waiting for the 10 reviews and I liked the anonymous review by greymoon so much that this chapter is partly dedicated to him/her/it (:P) . Oh! If you leave a good suggestion in your review I will use it in this story and cite you for it. But you have to leave a name for me to cite!

She dreamed…

This is not unusual for someone asleep. However, this was as you guessed no ordinary dream, and Clairvoyancy was and is not one of April's powers but this dream was special. She dreamed of a girl surrounded by a strange group. But no stranger than what may appear in any fanfiction author's mind. The girl was dressed in a Lt. Commander's uniform. The catch was it was clearly a mock-up. The fabric used wasn't standard uniform attire. For some strange reason her category color kept changing. One moment she was in command red then she was in science blue the next she was in the engineering/ops/security brown. It kept shifting and changing, never settling on one color. Her rank was clear, just not her specialty. She was surrounded by several people. It was clearly a costume/halloween party. April could only ID The Doctor, Doctor Gregory House, Doctor Wilson, and the girl herself from the group. It was Sam. Another Fanfiction Author who went by the screen name Scarlett De Fontain.

"Hi, April! You might want to remember all of this…" Sam said.

But before Sam could finish, a darkness swamped the dream and struck terror into April. She awoke screaming, and couldn't tell her concerned friends and companions why, or what had scared her so badly.

"Try to relax and calm down. It was nothing more than a nightmare." Troi assured the distraught girl.

Shaking her head no; April denied this explanation. "Unuh, it wasn't a nightmare! It wasn't even a normal dream. Not even close. You weren't there. You weren't in the dream for lack of a better term. This wasn't a dream but it wasn't reality. All I know for certain is that it's some sort of warning. What the warning is for and how far into the future or the past the warning stretches I don't know. What I do know is that it terrifies me."

"There's something wrong here." Martian said worriedly "This feels wrong and I've been on enough of the adventures or rather mishaps with her to know that this isn't good." Sigh "We have to be careful. Whenever something even remotely like this happens around April it means trouble and usually major trouble. We have to be on our guard. Nothing must happen. We can't afford to let anything happen, not now any way."

"What do you mean? Why not now?" asked Kirk

"It's difficult to explain and until I have a few things sorted I cannot explain it to you. I'm sorry. If you can find someone else to give you an explanation be my guest but I doubt that you will get the full tale from anyone but me. No one else has lived long enough to know the full tale; or rather existed long enough." Martian ended his minimal explanation with a dry humorless chuckle.

A/n: pathetic ... I know. But at least it's something. Sorry I forgot to post it. If you get frustrated that I haven't posted a chappy in a while PM me and I'll explain or something... right now i've got writer's block. Sorry. =\ I'll try to get the next one up when I can....


	4. Site Terms Violation! Be aware!

Founded by chisato12010

!Important!

I heard about Redbotton (a program that may get my stories and maybe your stories deleted from FanFiction .net)…

Please read this article I copied off from Civil Initiative .com... If I get in trouble for posting this then so be it, but I feel all readers should know the facts… It's their RIGHT…

Friday, August 27, 2010

The RedBotton Issue and what it means for FFNet

As some may have noticed there has recently been a mass reporting of stories on FFNet that are being made by a person known as RedBootton. The administration of the site have been made aware of a disturbing revelation about this account.

RedBootton is actually a program that was designed by Lord Kelvin and is used by various members of Literate Union. Redbootton appears to be capable of accessing Ffnet and searching stories or summaries for either key words or patterns of grammar and then creating a list of the stories that are "in violation of ToS" it then mass reports these stories until the stories are either removed by the author or mods. The members of LU don't even scan over the list before executing the report portion of the program.

The list itself is generated in a matter of minutes.

The idea is to go through each fandom systematically and clean house until Lord Kelvin can finish the touches on the site wide program. After each fandom is cleaned it will then be used to scan all new stories being posted.

This is a serious violation of the ToS on FFNet  
_4. General Use of the Website  
hereby grants you permission to access and use the Website as set forth in these Terms of Service, provided that:  
A. You agree not to distribute in any medium any part of the Website, including but not limited to User Submissions (defined below), without 's prior written authorization.  
B. You agree not to alter or modify any part of the Website.  
C. You agree not to access User Submissions (defined below) or Content through any technology or means other than the Website itself.  
E. You agree not to use or launch any automated system, including without limitation, "robots," "spiders," or "offline readers," that accesses the Website in a manner that sends more request messages to the servers in a given period of time than a human can reasonably produce in the same period by using a conventional on-line web browser. Notwithstanding the foregoing, grants the operators of public search engines permission to use spiders to copy materials from the site for the sole purpose of and solely to the extent necessary for creating publicly available searchable indices of the materials, but not caches or archives of such materials. reserves the right to revoke these exceptions either generally or in specific cases. You agree not to collect or harvest any personally identifiable information, including account names, from the Website, nor to use the communication systems provided by the Website (e.g. comments, email) for any commercial solicitation purposes. You agree not to solicit, for commercial purposes, any users of the Website with respect to their User Submissions. _

What is disturbing about this issue is that many false positives are given, and stories that are not in violation are being reported. The administration of FFNET have been made aware of this issue, but even after repeated e-mails they seem to be either indifferent or actually support the use of this program by Literate Union.

What follows is what is known about RedBootton and how this one simple program could easily impact the site and why every one should be angry that the administration as remained silent about this issue.

(RB) is a program that accesses and systematically searches for and reports stories that it flags as in violation of ToS.  
program is not perfect and has had false hits, resulting in stories with the inclusion of a header formatted in the following manner as being reported for script format even when the rest of the story is in actual story paragraph form.  
Rating:  
Pairing:  
Summery:  
Authors Note:  
no long reads or even checks over the stories that are flagged by RB before hitting the report function.  
advanced form of the program that is available to trusted members that includes a search function for typo's and grammar. This could result in a 10,000+ word stories that may have a few typo's or stories that have characters that may have dialog that is grammatically incorrect as being reported.  
is a beta version that will have the ability to search for MA stories. This search function is based upon the flagging of certain words within the text. A story that may have a rooster referred to as a cock or a cat being called a pussy could easily be flagged and reported as MA.  
6.A Beta version of the advanced program will have the capability to "clean house" site wide, including scanning any stories as they are being posted.

For those who think that is fiction I give you links to the Literate Union Forum.

.net/topic/61196/30589812/1/

In this thread is where Lord Kelvin talks about and includes links to where this program can be downloaded for general use. At one point LK even states _"Specific words/phrases are rated MA automatically because they are only present in stories with paraphilia."_

.net/topic/61196/30532995/38/#30685587

In this thread there is more talk about both RB and how to use it.

Over the past week multiple emails were sent to the admin and mods of FFNet with no answer. Although it is possible that with a site as large as FFNet that they have yet to find time to address this issue, I find myself leaning more to the belief that they just don't care. Since the site seems unwilling or unable to handle this issue there is only one solution.

That is to leave FFNet. Writers should remove their stories and find alternative sites for posting them. Readers to stop visiting. Perhaps then and only then will this issue be seen as important by the owner.

Personally I would rather fight then flee

**Please Post this same message to your stories to to let out the word. I suggest **

* * *

_**Genuka's contribution: Here's the forum link and remember to delete the spaces when you cut and paste it into the address bar!**_

__http: /forum. /topic/61196/30589812/1/#31568039


End file.
